A Gothard Girl testifies about the “root of bitterness” (guest post by Lauren Rose)

A while back when I (Rebecca) was talking with some former ATI members (Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute), I thought about the devastation, confusion, and even anti-Christianity that has resulted from this homeschooling program. I said aloud to myself, “Bill Gothard certainly has left a tremendous amount of destruction in his wake.”

Then I added under my breath, “Many were defiled.”

I saw that he was the very root of bitterness in Hebrews 12:15 that he himself loved to talk about.

In Untwisting Scriptures I compared Scripture with Scripture to show that the “root of bitterness” in Hebrews is, not a feeling deep in an individual’s heart, but a person in the midst of the congregation. It is that person who will defile many. It’s not uncommon for that defilement, that contamination, to remain dormant for some time, even years, before it becomes evident.

For years before he was truly exposed, there were voices calling out against Gothard and his teachings. But so many had to sit under these false, grievously heavy burdens throughout their childhood and teen years. And now, the fallout is all around us. Many have been defiled.

Here is a testimony from one young woman who was “defiled” by Gothardism, who in spite of Gothard and Gothardism found Jesus Christ.

The Gothard Girl

At the age of 22, I was singled out by Bill Gothard, this modern-day apostle Paul. He was “highly impressed with me” and praised my character.

Gothard, who was 72, recognized the “beautiful character” of Lauren Rose at age 22.

When I was 18 I had wanted to go to seminary, but because my family entered the Gothard cult, I learned that I had no rights and had to listen to and obey my authorities in all things, or I would go “under the realm of Satan’s control for his destruction on my life.”

From this teaching I had become a girl who believed I was never good enough. So I drank up Gothard’s attention like a dry sponge because I was desperate for praise and to fill that hole in my heart.

Yet I saw things that confused and horrified me. He constantly tried to hold my hand, stroke my hair, rub his foot up my leg, and give me full-on tight frontal hugs, all against my consent and desire. I would resist, and he would tell me repeatedly that I was just “a young girl laden with fears.” I still shiver at the anger and frustration ringing in his voice as he said it.

I asked the advice of other respected adults, and I was always told that feeling this way about this godly man indicated that something was wrong with me. I came to believe that all my cautions and inner voice were simply fear (which was ungodly), so I denied and repressed them.

Under Gothard’s control, I had no autonomy. He constantly pointed out my flaws, both “character” flaws and what he perceived to be physical flaws. He taught me how to meet his image of perfection. Of course, his “principles” had perfectly trained me to take all this meekly and quietly.

One day I saw Gothard flirting with some of the many young pretty girls who came and went at Headquarters, and I prayed and prayed. “God, what is going on here?”

That day I heard God speak clearly to my heart. “I’ve seen everything here, and someday I will use you in court to testify against him.”

Entering a new nightmare

By age 24, God’s voice had all but disappeared from my heart. I lay in my bed one night wondering if there even was a God, because this man and his teachings didn’t speak of God’s love to me.

But the God I knew reminded me that His presence had comforted me through some very difficult times, so I knew He was real. But I also knew then that what I was seeing wasn’t real Christianity.

At that time, a young man was pursuing me for marriage. My inner cautions screamed a resounding “NO,” but I had never been allowed to listen to my inner cautions. All I really knew anymore was to surrender to authority and “spiritual principles.”

I tried to follow all the “dating principles” I had been taught in the cult. I expressed the red flags with him and my family repeatedly. I even tried to end the relationship. But I was always told my only problem was my fears.

I remember fasting all day one day begging God, if this marriage wasn’t His will, to deliver me by telling my parents no. I didn’t know that I couldjust follow God despite what others said–I thought I had to have my authorities speak for me.

Even on the morning of my wedding day when I opened the Bible to Psalm 16, I heard God speak so clearly to my heart, “I want you to get out, and this psalm will be true in your life.”

But I thought it was too late now.

Three years later I was statistic of domestic violence in every form. Every caution I had was true. Every one.

I looked up “abusive marriages” online to find the power and control wheel for domestic violence, but the cult I was in taught me that all of those were areas I was supposedto be controlled, or I’d be subject to “Satan’s destruction.”

I was trapped and I wanted to die.

Beginning of recovery

I cried out to God for help and in 2011 connected with Recovering Grace. With professional counseling I began to work through the cult teachings. I began speaking out against Bill Gothard and became Jane Doe IV in a lawsuit (which was later dismissed).

I tried to fight for my marriage, only to find my husband didn’t believe he had a problem and didn’t want to give up his view of controlling and abusing me.

Finally I got myself and my daughter out of my abusive marriage.

Ten years later . . .

As I close on being 34 I have tons of joy, shock of freedom, and I am amazed at the strength God gave me this past year. It is incredibly significant to me.

This past year, Bill Gothard put an $18,200 judgment on me, demanding I recant everything I said or face paying the fine, losing my home, going to court, and perjury on my record. I said, basically, “I have nothing to recant, because I didn’t lie. See you in court.”

I stood before Bill Gothard in court just the way at age 22 God had spoken to my heart I would. I roared in his presence, showing I was no longer “a girl laden with fears.” I was now brave and tenacious and ready to fight for the weak and be a voice for them.

And I was validated by the judge.

This same year I filed for divorce, and was granted it.

So 34-year-old Lauren did what 24-year-old Lauren couldn’t do. She stood for herself; she followed Jesus and His promptings in her heart; she stood against abuse, manipulation and control; and she chose not to relent, regardless of the threats and loss of relationships.

Losing and finding true Christianity

I didn’t find Christianity in Bill Gothard’s cult teachings. But through my seven-year marriage I saw the reality of an earthly hell in someone who follows religion and law above a relationship with God and walking in love.

It broke me. It broke me, to bring me to healing.

I had nothing else to turn to but the God who had been made out to be an abuser by my then-husband. I chose to fight through the lies and find the real Jesus and true Christianity.

True Christianity is a surrender of the heart to God in your desperate need of Him, for salvation and to follow His leading. He leads those who yield to Him in safety and in paths of peace. He speaks to their hearts—and you don’t need an authority to speak for you.

He is for the abused, oppressed, weak, outcast, and those who are condemned by the religious people and law. When they trust in Him, He stands for them, he heals them, he fulfills and satisfies their hearts with His love and acceptance, and He gives them value and purpose. He did this for me, delivering me from my marriage and providing everything in ways that only are of Him.

Psalm 16 has become true in my life. It is a psalm of how God is our total satisfaction and how He leads us safely. Psalm 16 says, “the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, indeed I have a good heritage.”

He knew that on my wedding day I wasn’t strong enough to get out, but He knew that one day I would, and He would be there for me when I did.

He told me and knew I would one day face Bill Gothard in court, and He was there in that courtroom.

He showed me the destruction of religion and law. It brings wrath, pain, and death—my marriage was completely law and abuse justified with the Bible, and that’s what it brought.

A relationship with Jesus brings freedom, joy, love, and peace.

Jesus suffered rebuff and rejection under the hands of religious people when he broke perceived commandments/traditions/ laws to bring healing and wholeness to others. He understands my suffering when I’ve been oppressed by religious leaders, because He was too.

So today I’m grateful for what God did through my marriage to heal me and am at peace with it. I’m in the process of becoming a domestic violence advocate. I continually advocate for those who have been spiritually abused in cults.

So what does it mean to live as a Christian?

It is living in an abiding walk with God because I depend on Him. It is going to Him and pouring my heart out to Him for answers, comfort, and direction when I have none, and realigning my thoughts with His through His Word, because His thoughts are good.

It is loving others because I understand His love for me that has healed my heart, and I can love from a healed heart. True religion is to advocate for the abused, the oppressed, the vulnerable and weak. It is to strengthen them with Jesus and His truths. True Christianity gives value to a person. It acknowledges that every person has God-given rights.

We are called to suffer for doing what is right, as I have for standing against Gothard, with all the rebuff and rejection I faced from other Christians for obeying God in that action and for leaving my domestically violent marriage. There is peace in those sufferings because I know I’m doing what God told me. There is no peace in staying in abusive controlling relationships.

What’s ahead

I look back often to that 18-year-old girl who wanted to go to seminary, and I wish I could tell her to go, but I cannot undo it. I can, however, have joy in my blessings and can be grateful for the life I have and what I learned along the way.

Now 34-year-old Lauren is applying to go to school for the major she originally wanted, psychology. I’ve learned that God is a restorer of dreams. He plants them in our hearts, the same as he did for Joseph. Gothard liked to tell the story of Joseph, who had a dream from God but instead got betrayed by his brothers and was sold into slavery. It looked like death to his dreams, but was the means for his dreams to be accomplished. When God allows evil to be done to us and it looks like Satan won and all is lost, He is still in control and working and is weaving a greater story with our dreams.

Today my heart is full of joy in true Christianity, away from legalism in the oppressive cult. Only God could have done that. The brokenness I experienced led me to healing and wholeness and an abundant life.

So I will be thankful for the scars, and I’ll look back on my 34th year with tears of joy for what was fought for and accomplished that year. More importantly, I’m thankful for finding the heart of Jesus and His love for me, so I could be healed by His stripes.

This is such a testimony to the redeeming power of the Heart of God! Thank you for sharing!

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1 month ago

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Shari

Thank you for your courage in sharing your story, Lauren! I pray many will be set free from oppression because of your advocacy.

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1 month ago

Guest

Quietrunner

What a beautiful example of God’s redemptive nature. I too, experienced the dense fog of gothardism as a significant part of my upbringing (five week-long Basic institute seminars, every year of my teens). It shaped me in significant ways. Still working to untwist some of that. Your story offers us hope and points us toward perseverance in the midst of our own muddles. Thank you. Your pain and confusion woven into a testimony highlighting God’s goodness, healing and faithfulness, speaks into places where we have yet to see Him redeem fully, replacing our sorrow with Joy.
Congratulations on your new journey. EnJoy every moment of your studies being reminded of His faithfulness to you and delight in giving you realization to that dream. ❤️

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1 month ago

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Maggie

Wow! Keep going!!!!

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1 month ago

Guest

Mackenzie

Amen! God doesn’t fail and is there. Thank you for sharing your testimony and all the best on your new direction in life.

I’m so sorry for what happened to you and your children, Joy. Your story is all too common.

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1 month ago

Guest

T.L.

What a beautiful testimony to the reality of our God who stands with the oppressed, and with His face set against the oppressor. I’m praising Him for this transformation of grace and power and truth in your life, Lauren. Thank you for sharing your story!

“True Christianity gives value to a person.” This line from Lauren’s testimony resonates with me…
Recently, I had an email “debate” with my “reformed” pastor regarding our “value and worth.” This was his reply…

“Christ’s death on the cross displayed the sinfulness, ugliness, and rebellious condition of the people whom He purchased. His death on the cross was not a measure of my worth but in fact a measure of my sin. This is in fact why He was on the cross. Not because of my worth, but because of my sin.”

It’s a given that Christ’s death was about my sin… but also my worth to him in spite of my sin. What do you all think?

Thank you, Rebecca…
I just read your blog post. When you remove the matchless love relationship that we have with God, through Christ, from the picture… what is left? When I was seventeen – and broken to pieces by the emotional abuse of my father – Jesus LOVED ME! I mattered to HIM; he cared about my pain! I had value and worth in His eyes! … and His love put me back together…

That was many, many years ago, but I tear up every time I think about it! Over the years (I’m a grandmother now), I have encountered many versions of Christianity that seem to miss this central and all important message completely! From Bill Gothard’s teaching that I was briefly exposed to back in college… to legalism later… and now, here it is again, coming from my “young, restless, and reformed” new pastor!

Why should Christians have to fight so hard to keep the simple message of God’s love for all people central? Not to mention, how these false versions of Christianity turn away unbelievers! It’s hard, and it’s so sad. I can only conclude that the Enemy is behind all the confusion… he must really love it when believers, and unbelievers alike, are distracted from the heart of God found in the heart of the Good News. For me it’s simple: “Jesus loves me, this I know.” That’s it in a nut shell: the beginning, the end, and everything in between!

He loves us, and His love isn’t theoretical. It’s very practical. He died for us because He LOVES us. And love is meaningless without relationship.

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1 month ago

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Anonymous

I wonder how true it is to say that God loves all. I don’t believe that is true. There are many wicked people in this world today who are proud of being evildoers, won’t ever repent, and scoff at there being anyone or anything greater than themselves, let alone the reality that those same wicked evildoers are on the road to hell.

For example, the reviling thief crucified alongside Christ. He was unrepentant and I think it’s safe to say he is in hell right now. The other thief, who repented, is in Paradise, with Christ, as was told to him by Christ.

I believe there is a popular ‘c’hristian music song that talks about God chasing down sinners with His unconditional love for them. Something like that. I don’t believe that is true. Same with the belief that God loves all people. It leads into sin leveling, the ‘don’t judge, we are all sinners’ and happy hippie version of Christ, where it’s all peace signs and daisies.

The spirit of the Pharisees is alive and well not only in Israel (where the ultra-religious cripple democratic freedoms from the cradle to the grave & Messianic Jews are persecuted), but here in the US with the heresy of patriarchy, IFB, prosperity gospel, and the like. My own experience of a year long marriage to an IFB poster boy nearly destroyed me. I am so proud of you, and hope that pervert & his cult from Hell will be brought to their knees financially & morally. Jesus is so much more than they will ever know. Rejoicing with you in Truth!

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I’m Rebecca Davis, a writer, editor, wife, mother, grandmother, speaker, friend, advocate for the oppressed, and lover of Jesus who lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

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